bobanddenisewanderlust

Saturday- Another moving day. We drove from Lubbock to Whites City,NM to visit Carlsbad Cavern. We stayed at the RV Park at the entrance to the park, Whites City RV Park, $42 per night, for 2 nights. We ate dinner at home.

Sunday- We drove the 7 miles up to the Cavern entrance. Our self tour was free, due to our NP Senior Pass. We had our NP Passport book stamped. Then we took the elevator down the 700 feet to the Cavern. We walked the Big Room loop, which is 1.25 miles long and takes 1.5 to 2 hours.

The temperature inside the cave is 56 degrees, so we wore jeans and light jackets, which turned out to be perfect. Going early, around 9:30, meant that many times we were the only ones on the trail. Sometimes we would pass people and some times folks would pass us. It was nice and quiet. I am claustrophobic, but this cave was not problem. There is a paved walkway and very high ceilings. Below is the commercial area of the cavern.

The big room is 8.2 acres.

Below is the Lions Tail.

Below is part of the walkway.

You would never catch me climbing down that ladder!

We could barely see anything in the lower cave. My picture is completely black.

Below is the only time we had to walk thru a tunnel, about 3 ft. long.

At the top of the cross, there were two seating areas where they must have some programs, as these areas sat a lot of people.

Below is Mirror Lake. Note that the sign is upside down, so that you can read it in the lake.

Needless to say, the Bottomless Pit was a dark hole…

No bats in this part of the cave. No bugs either!

Below is the Chandelier…

Below is the Totem Pole…

Below is the Caveman…

Below is the Rock of Ages…the floor was wet and slippery in this area….

Below is the Chinese Theater….

Of course we took the elevator back up to the Visitor Center. We ate lunch at the Cavern restaurant. We returned down the mountain to the rig and did laundry. Later, we took a short nap and had a quiet evening.

Monday- We left Whites City and drove to Deming NM. On the way we noticed that the engine heat was climbing. Bob had hosed down the radiator a few days ago, but of course the back side of the radiator is still dirty. We did not overheat, but it came close when we were gaining altitude.

We arrived at the Escapees Dreamcatcher RV Park. We checked in, $22 FHU 50amp. We parked and set up. Then we went to Walgreens for a prescription. Then to Walmart for a new Direct TV remote. Ours was no longer turning off the TV or changing the sound. The remote we purchased was identical to the one we received from Direct; it is an actual Direct TV remote.

We returned to the park in time for the social hour at 4. We sat and talked until 5:15. We returned and I ordered Mexican food take out while Bob took the bikes off the back of the rig and checked the coolant in the radiator. The coolant was okay, so we plan to visit the Freightliner facility in Tollison, as soon as we can get an appointment.  I returned with dinner and we had a quiet evening.

Tuesday- I knew things were going too well! We had an issue putting in the small slide in the bedroom. Bob had to tip the front of the rig down, and the back up, to get the slide in to the motor home.

We moved to Benson AZ; to the Escapees Saguaro RV Park. We checked in, $25 per night plus electric. We had difficulty getting the back slide out, so Bob did the same thing, to get the slide to go out.  We were tired and had a quiet evening at home eating leftovers for dinner.

Wednesday- Taking the dogs with us, we drove to Sierra Vista to visit Ronda and Brian. Ronda is Bob’s cousin. We arrived and the dogs met up with their canine cousins, again.

Ronda and  Brian took us to lunch at a really nice little German Restaurant. This was not the one we had been to before in Sierra Vista. Thank you for lunch Ronda and Brian!

We returned and talked for awhile before Brian had to return to work. The girls were really happy to see us when we returned. We had left them outside, in a shady area, with water.

We left and returned to Benson and had a quiet evening.

Thursday- We still have a problem with the slide, which we will have to work on… and our Freightliner appointment is for Oct. 30. Our final lap for the season! We drove from Benson to Sun City to our annual site at Paradise RV Park. When we arrived there were 3 rigs, ahead of us, waiting to be taken to their sites. So I went to check the mail and promptly rain into MaryAnne. We greeted and I went to the office to check us in.

We arrived at our site to find it overgrown with weeds. It must have been the wet summer, as we have not had that many weeds before.

Cecil and Mellissa had already arrived, and they greeted us when they returned home. We went over to MaryAnne and Ray’s rig to pick up a box that they had accepted for us. While there, Allen stopped by. Donna had to fly out the previous night to Ohio, as her sister had to assist her partner, who is having emergency surgery, and Donna needed to take over taking care of their mother.

We continued setting up, then went with Cecil, Melissa, MaryAnne and Ray to Bucca de Beppo for dinner. We had a 50% off coupon on pasta for the whole table. MaryAnne and Ray only had salad, but Cecil and Melissa had ordered lasagna, as we had. They only had one lasagna; they chose to change to ziti. Due to the no lasagna, the manager comped their meal. We paid a lot less for our lasagna with the 50% off! We have found that Bucca has decreased the size of their portions and raised their prices, so we don’t go there very often. Others must not be going either, as the place was almost empty! 

Friday- We had a busy day. Marilyn and Don, who live across from us, stopped by to welcome us back. They said that they had a recipe for killing the weeds. So we ran to Walmart to pick up white vinegar and some salt. We returned and Bob mixed up the recipe and sprayed the weeds.

We went to Café Zupas for salads for lunch. The we stopped at Costco for gas and a few items. Gas was $2.89, which is much higher than what we have been paying in other areas!

We returned and the weeds looked the same. So we are going to wait until tomorrow to see what happens. We ate dinner, and went to play Mahjongg with MaryAnne and Allen at Allen’s rig. 

Filed under: Uncategorized |